Virtual universes are computer-based simulated environments intended for its users to inhabit, traverse, and interact via avatars, which are personas or representations of the users of the virtual universes, and generally take the form of two-dimensional or three-dimensional human or fantastical representations of a person's self. Virtual universes, also referred to as metaverses, virtual worlds, or “3-D Internet,” are now most common in massive multiplayer online games, such as Second Life (a trademark of Linden Research, Inc. in the U.S., other countries or both), the Sims Online (a trademark of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S., other countries, or both), and World of Warcraft (a trademark of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. in the U.S., other countries, or both). Avatars in these types of virtual universes, which can number well over a million, have a wide range of business and social experiences.
Current uses of virtual universe environments enable the use of an avatar to represent only one human user, and allow only one instantiation of an avatar, thus allowing each avatar to be in only one location at a time. Users are also only able to control one avatar at a time. Current means of controlling avatars therefore result in an inefficient method of interacting in a virtual universe, and high labor costs associated with, for example, customer service delivery in a virtual universe.